Dean Ambrose fought AJ Styles for the WWE Championship in the main event of TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs this past weekend.
The match ended in a controversial fashion, as it saw Dean’s friend James Ellsworth appear part way through the match, and push Ambrose off the ladder and actually help AJ Styles to retain his Championship.
Many members of the WWE Universe have jumped to the conclusion that this could have been a heel turn for James Ellsworth after weeks of playing the best friend of Ambrose, but it doesn’t actually seem to be going that way.
Instead, it could all make much more sense after SmackDown tonight when James Ellsworth fights AJ Styles for the WWE Championship. It is very likely that Dean Ambrose will play a part in the outcome of this match and it could be that Ellsworth is just a pawn in a heel turn storyline for Ambrose.
Ambrose fans have wanted The Lunatic Fringe to turn heel for the past few months and it could be set to happen in coming months. Ellsworth could explain that his actions at TLC were because he wanted Ambrose out of the picture, technically Ellsworth has defeated Styles three times now and deserved a title shot much more than Ambrose did.
This wouldn’t be deemed as heel behaviour and as already stated, it would allow Ambrose to interfere tonight and turn himself.
A feud between Ellsworth and Ambrose would take SmackDown through to the new year and free AJ Styles up ahead of The Royal Rumble if he is still set to face Shawn Michaels.
Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles have been fighting each other ever since the Brand Split, Styles defeated Ambrose at the first SmackDown exclusive event, Backlash and the duo have had their problems ever since.
It has been an endless feud since SmackDown doesn’t have many stars who can step up into the main event title picture. Randy Orton would have been the perfect person to challenge AJ in the coming weeks but WWE decided to put him in a feud as part of The Wyatt Family.
The same could be said for Bray Wyatt, and since John Cena’s hiatus has now been extended, it seems that SmackDown is short of challengers when it comes to their main event picture.
After an incredible win over Kalisto in a chairs match on Sunday night, it could be argued that Baron Corbin could be set to make the transition into the main event in the coming months, but perhaps after AJ has dropped the title to someone else.
When there’s a heel champion at the head of the company, it makes it much harder to choose challengers because there is a lack of face superstars on SmackDown. Dolph Ziggler has just lost his feud against The Miz and has already lost to AJ Styles in a title match a few months ago.
This could be the reason why Ellsworth was inserted into the main event picture in the first place, he was used to prolong the storyline between Styles and Ambrose because SmackDown didn’t have anyone else to step up and challenge the former TNA Superstar.
Many fans have become tired of watching Ellsworth now and feel that he should have left a long time ago. If he really was just a jobber who was supposed to come in to help Ambrose and Styles and then leave, then why did WWE give him a SmackDown Live contract?
He isn’t the usual kind of superstar that WWE would hire, so this leads to the conclusion that he obviously has a much bigger part to play in the coming weeks of storylines. What is known is that he will be going one-on-one with AJ tonight on SmackDown Live and the WWE Championship will be on the line.
Ellsworth has never defeated AJ without Dean Ambrose’s help, and it is highly unlikely that Ambrose will come out and help him this time. It is currently unknown as to how Ambrose has reacted to another one of the people he called a friend turning on him, but it will be interesting to see if tonight is finally the night where Ambrose decides enough is enough and turns on Ellsworth.
